ABSTRACT
In recent decades, changes in the public sector itself were brought to the fore by various scholars to better understand the role of citizens and the third sector in the provision of public services. First, Vincent Ostrom challenged the dominant perspective of unitary provision of most public services and developed an alternative version of responsible government and democratic administration (1973). Following this, Elinor Ostrom, and her colleagues analyzed the role of citizens in the provision of public services in terms of co-production (Parks et al., 1981). More recently, several other prominent scholars of public administration and management joined the discussion. Hartley (2005) identified and analyzed three approaches to the public sector itself in the postwar period and their implications for policy makers, managers and citizens. These three approaches are traditional public administration, new public management (Npm), and networked governance. Osborne viewed Npm as a transitory stage in the evolution toward new public governance (2006 and 2010); Bovaird argued for a radical reinterpretation of policy making and service delivery in the public domain, resulting in public governance (2007); while Denhardt and Denhardt (2008) promote new public service as serving citizens rather than steering them. Common to all of these newer perspectives on public services is a central role attributed to greater citizen participation, co-production and third sector provision of public services.
